Thursday, March 23, 2017

The Washington Post is reporting that Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer has announced Senate Democrats will filibuster the nomination of Judge Neil Gorsuch.

With a slim 52 member majority in the Senate, this move will make crossing the 60 vote procedural hurdle difficult for the Republicans.

Gorsuch “was unable to sufficiently convince me that he’d be an independent check” on Trump, Schumer said in a Senate floor speech.

Gorsuch is “not a neutral legal mind but someone with a deep-seated conservative ideology,” Schumer added. “He was groomed by the Federalist Society and has shown not one inch of difference between his views and theirs.”

The Federalist Society, a conservative legal group, was one of two organizations that provided a list of names to President Trump to consider for his Supreme Court nomination. One of the group’s top leaders, Leonard Leo, is on leave from the organization as he advises Trump on the Supreme Court confirmation process and other picks to fill vacancies on the federal appeals courts.

Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee became increasingly frustrated by Gorsuch’s bland answers. “You have been very much able to avoid any specificity like no one I have ever seen before,” said Sen. Dianne Feinstein (Calif.), the ranking Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee.